Captioned as 'BJP spreading love', Rahul Gandhi's tweet carried two pictures, one where CM Chouhan was sitting on a fast, and another in which policemen were seen lathi-charging the women.

Captioned as ‘BJP spreading love’, Rahul Gandhi’s tweet carried two pictures, one where CM Chouhan was sitting on a fast, and another in which policemen were seen lathi-charging the women. (Image: IE)

Taking a jibe at Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Monday shared a picture of policemen lathi-charging on an old woman. Captioned as ‘BJP spreading love’, Rahul Gandhi’s tweet carried two pictures, one where CM Chouhan was sitting on a fast, and another in which policemen were seen lathi-charging the women. The first picture by Rahul was a screenshot of a tweet from Shivraj Singh Chouhan, while the other picture was a tweet from a news organisation. We cannot confirm if policemen in one of the pictures belonged to the Madhya Pradesh police. Rahul’s tweet came hours after the CM sat on a fast, appealing peace from agitating farmers. Addressing media today, Chouhan said, “Your (farmers’) labour won’t go waste.” He added: “I know of the bumper crop production that has sent the prices crashing down in the state. I know your (farmers) problems.” Earlier, Congress termed the indefinite fast as a “pretense” and asked him to prepare for his “political exile”. “Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s fast is a drama…it is a sham, he should answer why a case of murder has not been filed in the death of five farmers in Madhya Pradesh,” Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said. “This fast is nothing but a pretence…the Congress is with farmers in their fight for their rights,” Surjewala added.

However, farmer leader Basavaraj Ingin has said that Rahul Gandhi is trying to gain political mileage. “I condone the incident that happened in Mandsaur. This should not have happened. Rahul Gandhi is an expert in taking advantage of any incident to gain political mileage. I suggest that Rahul Gandhi should have first advised the ministers of his party to come up with ideas for helping the farmers in their states and should have the right to talk about the inaction of the Madhya Pradesh Government. I also feel that the Congress should not create confusion among the farmers to gain political mileage,” Ingin told ANI. On Thursday, Rahul was detained by local police as he tried to enter the state despite denial of permission.